I've never had too little smoke flavor from my SM066. In the beginning I had to learn not to use too much wood. Last weekend, I did a rack of loinback ribs and used 2 small chunks of peach wood, about 2 oz. total. Plenty of smoke. Also, it is easy: toss in the wood, add the meat, set the temp and walk away until dinner time. As for combustion, I usually end up with a mixture of charcoal and ash. Sometimes just ash for a very long smoke.